THIS WEEKEND
A record-breaking debut for the highly anticipated horror pic Scream
3 single-handedly gave the box office
the cure it needed to overcome its recent woes. Compared to Miramax's killer
picture, the rest of the marketplace was a virtual cemetery as every other
movie grossed less than $5M a piece. However, most holdover films enjoyed
remarkably small declines despite the Scream
vacuum.

Scaring moviegoers
in packed auditoriums from coast to coast, Scream
3 exploded in its opening weekend collecting
an eye-popping $34.7M, according to final
figures, grossing more than the rest of the top ten films combined. Director
Wes Craven's final installment in the popular horror series bowed in a
record 3,467 theaters and carved up a bloody $10,013 average per venue.
By comparison, Scream 2
launched in December 1997 with $32.9M in 2,663 theaters for a $12,364 average.
Scream regulars
Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette, and David Arquette reunited for
the concluding chapter and were joined by newcomers Parker Posey, Patrick
Dempsey, and Jenny McCarthy. Scream 3
takes the whodunit story to Hollywood where actors on the set of the film
Stab 3 are being killed off in the order of their characters' murders in
the script.

A number of new records
were set over the weekend by Scream 3
including the biggest February debut (beating the $22M bow of The
Empire Strikes Back - Special Edition
in 1997) and the largest company opening for Miramax (surpassing Scream
2's $32.9M). Scream
3 easily posted the biggest opening of
the new year and may hold onto that distinction for some time given the
spring release schedule. It also generated the third best debut ever for
an R-rated picture (after Air Force One's
$37.1M and Interview with the Vampire's
$36.4M) and the third highest launch for the third installment of a franchise
(after Batman Forever's
$52.8M and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's
$37M holiday opening). Most sequels, this far into their series, do not
attract a massive audience like Scream
3 did.

Many factors contributed
to the scorching $34.7M opening. The Scream
films have a large, loyal following who
were eager to see how the series would come to an end. Miramax turned up
the marketing hype in recent weeks and secured more theaters than any other
film has ever had on opening weekend. With an otherwise dead marketplace
filled with stale titles, exhibitors everywhere were eager to book multiple
screens for Scream 3
and consumers were excited to finally have something new and worthwhile
to spend their money on. With over 5,500 prints in circulation, there was
enough supply to soak up the massive demand which was heightened by the
fact that the film's core audience of teens and young adults have been
mostly ignored by the recent crop of mature dramas and kids movies that
have been filling screens. In fact, New York City's Loews E-Walk complex
in Times Square quadruple-screened the hit film and offered a whopping
57 showtimes over the Friday-to-Sunday period allowing anybody who wanted
a Scream 3
ticket to actually get one.

Accounting for 51%
of all ticket sales for the top ten movies, Scream
3 was the savior that the box office desperately
needed to lift itself out of its doldrums. Delayed from a planned December
1999 launch, the slasher sequel won big by debuting in a less crowded field.
The production cost for the comedic frightfest has been estimated to be
between $30-40M. Long term prospects are questionable as audiences for
horror films, sequels, and teen pics tend to show up early in a movie's
run leaving less potential for future weeks but it is certainly possible
for Scream 3
to reach the century mark like its two predecessors. The original Scream
opened in December 1996 and grossed $87M
domestically but was reissued in April 1997 allowing it to eventually climb
to $103M. Scream 2
bowed in December 1997 and collected $96M before an April rerelease pushed
it to $101M.

A few other movies
managed to sell some tickets too this weekend. Golden Globe winner Denzel
Washington keeps hanging tough round after round as his boxing tale The
Hurricane climbed one notch to second
place with $4.9M. Now in its fourth weekend of national release, the Universal
release slipped just 13% and brought its cume to $37.6M. The
Hurricane should continue its stellar
run as it is expected to snag some Academy Award nominations next week
which will bring further attention to the story of the wrongly prisoned
pugilist.

Sony's durable kidpic
Stuart Little
experienced a microscopic 1% decline from last weekend taking in another
$4.7M upping its cume to a grand $128.6M. With virtually no competition
for the family audience, the talking mouse has been hording all the dollars
to itself. However, next weekend will see a shakeup as two new kidpics
finally enter the marketplace. Disney's The
Tigger Movie and Paramount's Snow
Day launch in over 2,700 and 2,500 theaters
respectively.

Next Friday
laughed up $4.3M and watched as its total reached $45.5M. Last week's number
one film Eye of the Beholder
lost 29% of its vision and finished in fifth place with $4.2M. The Ewan
McGregor-Ashley Judd pic has collected a reasonable $12M in ten days and
looks headed for a final gross of $20-25M.

Tom Hanks and his rodent
co-star Mr. Jangles placed sixth this weekend with The
Green Mile which pulled in $4M pushing
its cume to $120.4M. Galaxy Quest
enjoyed a slim 3% decline slipping to $3.3M for a $62.9M total. Miramax's
teen romance Down to You
fell 33% to eighth place with an estimated $2.7M pushing its 17-day total
to $16.6M.

Winona Ryder and Golden
Globe winner Angelina Jolie took ninth place with Sony's Girl,
Interrupted which pulled in $2.6M for
a $24.9M cume. A take of $2.5M was scooped up by Paramount's The
Talented Mr. Ripley giving the Anthony
Minghella picture $75.6M to date.

The Disney/Pixar blockbuster
Toy Story 2,
left the ranks of the top ten again and grossed $2.25M allowing its cume
to climb to $237.1M. The animated hit now occupies the number nineteen
spot on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters,
and should cruise past the $238.6M tally of Ghostbusters
next weekend. Of course, ticket prices were much lower in 1984 when the
Bill Murray-Dan Akroyd hit ruled theaters.

Disney's IMAX film
Fantasia 2000
continues its marathon run easing only 1% to $1.8M giving the animated
film $18.9M from just 54 screens and a sizzling weekend average of $34,093.
Worldwide, Fantasia 2000
is playing in 75 sites and has amassed $24M in just over a month of release.

While the toons remained
hot, live action woes surfaced for Buena Vista as its new release Gun
Shy opened poorly with $703,109 from 296
playdates. Featuring Liam Neeson, Oliver Platt, and co-star/producer Sandra
Bullock, the crime comedy averaged a weak $2,375 per theater.

Fine Line offered Simpatico,
starring Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges, and Sharon Stone, in 256 houses and
walked away with only $459,020 to estimates, giving it a disappointing
$1,793 average.

Compared to projections,
Scream 3
opened extremely close to my $36M forecast.

Take this week's NEW
Reader Survey on the movie sequel you would
most want to see. In last week's survey, readers were asked whether Scream
3 would open with at least $25M. Of 3,322
responses, 70% correctly chose yes while 30% said no. Be sure to read the
Weekly Rewind column which looks at the top
February openings. For a review of Scream
3 visit The
Chief Report.

The top ten films over
the weekend grossed $67.9M which was up 17% from last year when Payback
debuted on top with $21.2M, and up 1%
from 1998 when Titanic spent
its eighth weekend at number one with $23M.

Be sure to check back
on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next
weekend when Leonardo DiCaprio tries to become king of the world with his
new film The Beach
which sets sail nationwide.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Source : EDI, Exhibitor Relations. Opinions expressed in this column are
those solely of the author.